I think transparency is a good thing. My experience of it here has been positive. I mean, sure there are costs to operating a system of publishing advice and one needs to think about how you actually administer a system like that, but the principle of transparency, I think, is a positive thing.
—Gabriel Makhlouf
Recently the Global Government Forum published a fascinating article following an interview with Gabriel Makhlouf, the secretary & chief executive of the New Zealand Treasury. Having previously worked as a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, Makhlouf discusses what the two countries’ governments have in common, what sets them apart and what challenges lie ahead in New Zealand.
Of particular interest to the Institute were Makhlouf’s comments about New Zealand’s ‘tradition of transparency’ in government compared with the publicly inaccessible nature of the British political system.
Read the article here.
The Institute is currently working on Project StrategyNZ, which in part aims to improve the transparency of strategy in government.